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Sharing stories, food and passports: forced migration, museum and memory activism in contemporary Germany

Research Output: Contribution to journal Article Peer-review

Open access

Sustainable Development Goals

  • SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
    SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Abstract

This article uses the online exhibition ‘Arriving: Life after Forced Migration’ by the Marienfelde Refugee Center Museum in Berlin as a case study to investigate how museum activism can contribute to creating and disseminating memories about contemporary forced migration. Employing a close visual and textual analysis of the online exhibition combined with insights from recent discourses on museum activism, migration and memory studies, the article explores which forms of memory the exhibition creates, how these memories emerge and to which end they are used. The analysis firstly illustrates how the exhibition creates a space for communicative memory to surface within the portrayed refugee families through the sharing of stories, objects and food from ‘home’. Secondly, it goes on to argue that the exhibition engages in memory activism by humanizing the portrayed individuals, exposing discriminatory state practices and challenging the audience through provocative questions. Thirdly, the article submits that this online exhibition contributes to a growing transnational archive of forced migration memories. Comprised of a multitude of online platforms dedicated to collecting, preserving and sharing forced migration stories, this archive stimulates multidirectional memory making and allows counter narratives to surface within an increasingly divided Europe.

Publication Information

Output type

Research Output: Contribution to journal Article Peer-review

Original language

English

Pages from-to (Number of pages)

Pages 380-404 (25 pages)

Journal (Volume, Issue Number)

Journal of Intercultural Studies (Volume 46, Issue 3)

Publication milestones

  • Accepted/In press - 27/08/2024
  • Published - 09/09/2024

Publication status

Published - 09/09/2024

ISSN

0725-6868

External Publication IDs

  • handle.net: 10547/626361
  • Scopus: 85203498230

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